Australia
Flag colours: Red, White and Blue.
Flag Description: blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and a large seven-pointed star in the lower hoist-side quadrant known as the Commonwealth Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901; the star depicts one point for each of the six original states and one representing all of Australia's internal and external territories; the remaining half is a representation of the Southern Cross constellation in white with one small five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed stars.
Australia is in the continent called Oceania.
It is 10,500 miles from London, England to Canberra, Australia. It takes approximately 21 hours to fly there.
It is between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.
It's land area is 7,617,930 sq km.
Australia has a population of 20,600,856 people.
The capital city is called Canberra and 327,700 people live there.
The main towns (not including the capital city) are:
- Sydney with 4,154,700 people
- Melbourne with 3,488,800 people
- Brisbane with 1,653,400 people
- Perth with 1,397,000 people
- And Adelaide with 1,110,500 people
The national currency (money) is called the Australian Dollar and is shortened to AUD.
Australia is ruled by the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II. It has a Governor-General called Michael Jeffery. It also has a prime minister called Kevin Rudd.
The official languages of Australia are English, Chinese and Italian.
Famous musician instruments from Australia include:
the didjeridu (also called a yidaki) (shown on the left) and
boomerang clapsticks (shown on the right).
The main sports in Australia are Australian Rules football (shown on the left) and cricket.
Traditional food of Australia include:
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Damper: traditional bush bread, made without yeast, and commonly made on a campfire in a cast iron camp oven |
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Anzac biscuits: traditional biscuit/cookie dating back to World War I |
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Lamington: traditional small sponge cake squares covered in chocolate icing and sprinkled with coconut |
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Pavlova: traditional meringue dessert |
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Vegemite: spread for toast or sandwiches, made from yeast extract |
The animals that you can see in Australia include:
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Koala |
Emu |
Possum |
Kangaroo |
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Platypus |
Wombat |
Dingo |
Famous people who were born in Australia include:
- Russell Crowe (actor)
- Cate Blanchett (actress)
- Elle Macpherson (model)
- Kylie Minogue (started as an actress, then became a singer)
- Nicole Kidman (actress)
- Mel Gibson (actor)
Some detail about the weather in
- The hottest months are December and January with average maximum temperatures of 36°C.
- The coldest months are June and July with average maximum temperatures of 19°C.
Other interesting facts:
There were no territorial claims made to Australia until 1770, when Captain James Cook took possession in the name of Great Britain.
The original people of Australia are called aboriginals.